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Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Over five and a half years ago, I started working from home on Tuesdays. This post from 2012 sums up why, and Hannah and I once made the front page of The Boston Globe for it, but for a quick refresher, a childcare gap during the afternoons due to early release schedules each week necessitated someone being at home then. That someone was me. Now that Marc has started a new job where several other people work from home on Tuesdays, it's going to be him.

This is a good change for me, but a bittersweet one. Over the last year, it seems my Tuesdays have gotten more hectic. With two kids coming home at different times, my work was interrupted twice for catching up with each kid. Orthodontist appointments were sometimes thrown in. Max's piano lessons interrupted as well, and since his teacher was on the unreliable side, that sometimes added disruption too. And while I liked making the kids laugh as we waited for their Hebrew school carpool to arrive, some days it was hard to tear myself away from work one more time. I always got everything done, but my Tuesdays were far from easy. (I think Marc tends to be less distractable while working than I am, so I don't expect he'll have as hard of a time dealing with this as I did. We shall see.)

While all the interruptions sometimes complicated things, I will miss the extra time I got to spend with my kids. I think it was good for all of us. I think Marc will benefit from it now.

In a couple of weeks after I do some travel for work, I'll be starting a new routine of work from home Wednesdays. It's going to take a bit of time to shake out because I already agreed to some Wednesday meetings, but eventually I'll be working from home with a longer stretch of uninterrupted time. Sometimes I may have to take Hannah to a mid-afternoon rehearsal across town, and again, I'm grateful to be able to have that flexibility. But now it's an exciting thought that I can work from home one day a week mostly because it's good for me, and not just what I need in order to make life work.

So with the kids starting back at school today (7th and 3rd grade OMG HOW?), I'll be saying goodbye to Tuesdays, at least for now. Maybe in a year it'll all change again. Mostly, I remain grateful for this opportunity that I've had, and I continue to hope that others can be afforded similar flexibility.

Hi! I'm Cheryl.

My name is Cheryl Stober, and welcome to Busy Since Birth. I focus on providing moments of "me too" connection and encouragement to fellow working parents, in all their capacities. My crazy-busy life has led me to say, "I'm having it all--at the exact same time." I'm married to Marc, mom to Hannah and Max, a product manager working in finance, Jewish camp advocate and pop culture fan. Follow me on Twitter @cherylstober.